Hello All,We are sad to report that our old sweetheart, Special Agent Cooper, FBI is gone. We put Coop to sleep 05/28/04, at an estimated age of 14+.
Monique & I rescued Cooper in January 2000. We anticipated slipping over to the trailer house in South Austin for a 7:00 a.m. look-see, and then climbing back into our respective beds for a few more hours of shut eye. Instead we found Cooper, frantic & wide eyed, practically shouting at us, "Get Me Out of Here!" The trailer smelled of urine, several other dogs & a cat were already in residence, and our elderly hostess was obviously confused. "I saw an ad in the newspaper for this lost dog, and I thought he was my dog. I don't drive, but my friend took me to see this dog. I wasn't sure it was my dog, but he could have been." We pieced the rest of her story together: She took Cooper to the vet, who explained that 10 year old, dark red Cooper was not this woman's 5 year old, gold colored dog. The vet charged her $29 & sent the woman to rescue.
It took some fast talking, but we managed to get the confused lady's signature on a bill of sale. Cooper raced us to the car & we beat it out of there before the woman could change her mind. Cooper moved into Biba Retirement Acres, won our hearts, and that was that. :-)
We nursed Coop thru heartworm treatment, and over the years, we battled severe allergies, heart problems & liver issues. Every time Coop took a turn for the worse, his vets pulled him through with help from his Doggy Dermatologist, Holographic Repatterning, Reiki & Psychological Kinesiology. I secretly thought that Cooper chose to keep living...his happiness kept him here. It took Laryngeal Paralysis to stop the old Soldier...muscles which opened the upper airway were paralyzed, and breathing became impossible.
Cooper was our optimist & adventurer, a traveling man & a pacifist; our Cowardly Lion. Puppies terrified Coop the most -- those erratic creatures chasing him across the yard & through the house, pulling his tail as he tried to escape upstairs to Gary's office. It wasn't until little Natalie moved in, that Coop grudgingly admitted that for a puppy, she might be all right. When Cooper was happy, he twirled & whirled & bounded across the yard like an impossibly enthusiastic elk. The highlight of his day was the 5:00 dog drive; 6 Goldens in the Explorer, windows down, 15 mph. Cooper was the kind hearted friend of 70+ foster dogs who shared our home since his rescue. We watched him develop crushes on Zydeco the Springer Spaniel, and Goldens Mrs. Robinson & Brittany Biba. All 3 of those ladies are gone now too, and we can only imagine that they were among the crowd that greeted our boy as he entered Dog Heaven.
It is important to us that Special Agent Cooper is remembered. We loved him so much.
Margo & Gary,
Madeleine, Chili, Tag, Ace, Buster